In 1995, the US government declassified a Top Secret programme called Project STAR GATE. In their desperate race for an edge over the Soviet Union in the information wars, this ultra-secret project had developed an intuitive intelligence technique at Stanford University called 'controlled remote viewing (CRV)', had trained a small group of military, and some civilian, personnel in this method, and formed a so-called 'psychic spying' unit at Fort Meade, Maryland. This unit ran for over 23 years in an intelligence gathering capacity during the Cold War and First Gulf War.

Following the release of 40,000 documents under the Freedom of Information Act, and as the memoirs of those involved in the unit (such as Joe McMoneagle, Lyn Buchanan and Paul H. Smith) began to emerge and the ex-military trainers began to train civilians in this technique, it became clear that, while not expressly authorised by their superiors, many of the 'viewers' have been involved in projects focussed on the UFO phenomena.

Remote Viewing comes into its own in situations where information is simply not available by any other means. Individual and organised teams of remote viewers have used their skills to explore anomalous events and sightings, have identified details of other planets in our solar system and other off-world curiosities, which were only confirmed months later when the satellites finally arrived there, and even alleged First Contact meetings with extraterrestrial races.

Here on Earth, remote viewers have used remote viewing to confirm, not only the presence of UFO's, but what they are made of, their propulsion system, how they are controlled and who is flying them.

Ingo Swann, in his book Penetration, describes his experience of remote viewing structures and activity on the Moon, after the Apollo missions had publicly ceased.

Joe McMoneagle, one of the best viewers in the unit, was tasked with an unknown location. He began describing ancient pyramid-like structures in a dry, dusty hazy environment which contained a number of life forms which appeared dormant or in a form of hibernation. Only later did he discover he had been tasked with a location on Mars!

When First Contact occurs between two previously unknown groups, there is always a high possibility of the cultures inadvertently clashing with each other because of some minor breach of cultural norms or etiquette. To avoid this happening here on Earth, the military produce Day Books; a term used to describe briefing documents which are given to personnel before they travel abroad on a posting to another country.

Lyn Buchanan's company, P>S>I Inc., were approached by a private client who tasked them with searching for our nearest neighbours, and producing Day Books on each of their cultures which we could be used to reduce the risk of offending them during a First Contact meeting. This ongoing project has found a number of races on habitable planets in close proximity to Earth, with cultural norms very different to ours. However, it would appear that not all of the 'lights in the skies' are 'theirs'.

During one training class, Lyn took a group of students up to the high desert above White Sands to gather turquoise. As they were searching the area they heard a hissing sound. Thinking it was a rattle snake, everyone froze. Lyn quickly realised that the sound was moving and travelling up the valley towards them. He said "that sound passed directly over us, at less than ten feet above our heads. The weird thing was, there was nothing there. It was completely invisible, with no down draft or back draft. I was so annoyed because I could have picked up a rock and thrown it at that thing!"

Later, Lyn set the event as an unknown target for some of his professional remote viewers. They came back with information about 'a craft moving very slowly close to the ground, with two men in military uniform laughing, and another group of six or seven people standing around in an open area looking very confused'. As Lyn said later "I knew we had anti‐gravity. I didn't realise we had perfected the cloaking".

The use of remote viewing as an information gathering tool is openly accepted in exopolitics. One researcher, Steven Greer said about remote viewing: "It's not a belief system. It is science; it is physics, pure and simple. Humans have abilities to access levels of consciousness generally only spoken about by mystics and shamans." Another researcher has stated that "Remote Viewing IS the scientific breakthrough that has made replicable exopolitical research into the Universe possible."

Remote viewing shows us that we are more than our physical body; we have exceptional abilities within us that have lain dormant but, with proper training and practice, can open doors to innovation and creativity that we never even knew were there! It is a very valuable tool; one we need to develop and share.

[In memoriam Betty Meyler, President of the UFO Society of Ireland who died peacefully on 24th October, 2010.]

Paul O'Connor, Director and Project Manager at PSI: Pure Stream Information, is a professional CRV-Remote Viewer, CRV Trainer and international speaker; trained by ex-US military remote viewer, Lyn Buchanan. For details of upcoming CRV-Remote Viewing trainings, contact Paul at oconnor@iol.ie, or at +353 (0)87 8149663.